I’m standing outside a club in the warehouse district while my friend gets a number from some guy. I hear the muffled house music and people in line talk about the wait time and parties across town. I look up at the sky and see only black. No stars, unlike back home. Well, not home anymore. Johnnie bumps my shoulder to get my attention and we make our way down the sidewalk to find some food to soak up all the alcohol. We do our best not to collide into each other as we make our way, passing lifeless buildings and dark alleyways. I shove my hands in my jacket pocket and stand up straight to make my small frame appear bigger. Johnnie checks his phone before breaking the silence.
“You ever wonder how many times we’ve probably walked by some horrendous crime covered by the darkness?” he asks.
“Fucking hell, dude. Way to kill the vibe.”
“I’ll fix it with salsa verde, the food truck’s about a block away.”
He grabs my hand and drags me down an alley he says is a short cut. I have no choice but to believe him, I don’t know the city that well. We pass dumpsters overflowing with reeking trash and I fail at not seeing the shapes of crumbled bodies in the garbage bags. His words got to me more than I expected. It seems the farther we walked, the more foreboding figures I began to make out of the dark spaces. And by the way Johnnie speeds up, I think he noticed them too. He squeezes my hand and navigates the back streets. I do my best to keep up in my heels. I want to get out of the dark. My heart races, the narrow alleys feel too close.
“Can’t we just get back to the street,” I ask.
“Too late for that, but don’t worry we’ll be fine.”
“This stopped feeling like a short cut a while ago.”
“Probably ‘cause this stopped being a taco run around the same time.” He stops at the back of some building with horrible security lights and his face contorts as if he’s listening to something. He looks at me, but his attention seems to be on something else. He grabs my face, “I’ll keep you safe, just stay down.” I crouch by a door near a fire escape. He squats to face me. “I’ll be back, I promise. Keep your eyes covered.”
I do what he says and listen to his footsteps retreat. I try to slow my breathing. Why did he want me to cover my eyes? A wind forms out of nowhere and is gone just as quickly then I notice several new voices. They’re too far away to make anything out, but I know how someone sounds when they’re pissed off. They talk for a minute, and I focus on Johnnie’s voice. It’s not hard to tell he doesn’t like whatever they say to him. Suddenly, I heard a thud followed by a gasp. More sounds of hits connecting, they’re jumping him. I don’t think, I run to the sounds of the fight. There were at least 3 other voices besides Johnnie, there’s no way he could take them all. But as I get nearer the sight is not what I expected at all. There was a man on the ground clutching his side. I caught sight of Johnnie, shirt torn and bloody, grappling with another man. The thing the caught my attention was Johnnie, he looked primal, teeth bared and eyes wide, he growls as he tries to down the other guy. But, I know I heard another voice. The other man turns to look at me, he sneers, and I see long teeth.
I feel cold fingers wrap around my neck their long nails ready to pierce my skin. Guess I know where the third one went. The pair stops, and Johnnie pushes the man away who joins the sneering one to stand behind us. The cold one holding me addresses Johnnie,
“I’m sorry, we’re going to have to insist that you join us for dinner.” He squeezes tighter and sniffs me.
“Fine. Fine! Just leave her here, you want me,” he pleads.
“Nonsense, we have plenty of room. And doggy needs a leash. Let’s go.”
They usher us to a black SUV and place us in the middle seats. The one Johnnie was fighting sits in the back seat and the other two take the front seats and send the truck into travel without a car. Johnnie’s the only one looking beat up. He’s covered in blood, yet I see only faint scars. He tries to smile at me.
“Don’t worry, it’s not all my blood.”
“Then why are you the only one who looks like they were in a fight?”
“You going to be getting the answer to that soon enough,” he says. He doesn’t look too happy to have told me that.
—
We ride for an hour. By the time we have stopped, Johnnie is breathing normally and the scars are gone.
They take us to the top floor of a high rise, which is an expensive restaurant with ultra-modern décor. We find ourselves in a private dining area, the three men have left us. I have so many questions, but I don’t know where to begin. Johnnie though looks like he’s been here before. I find myself getting annoyed. Just as I am about to speak, Johnnie lifts a finger to his lips. Just then a woman in a deep purple suit and long white hair comes in followed by the man who grabbed me. I get a look at him, his dark hair is buzz cut, his skin amber yet pale. His face was void of emotion, yet when he looked at Johnnie I could see the tiniest hint of disgust. The woman sat across from us and smiled mirthlessly.
“Johnnie glad you could join us. Introduce us to your friend.”
“Doesn’t matter. Just tell me why we’re here, so we can go.” They stare at each other. Yeah, there’s definitely some history here. She turns to look at me.
“Why don’t you tell us your name?”
“Anika.”
“Pretty.” She turns back to Johnnie. “I don’t like to insult the intelligence of the four-legged, but you had to know that you were in our territory.”
“Yeah, but taco trucks go wherever they want, so,” he shrugs.
“So, you just so happened to have to cut through our territory to get to a taco truck.” She raised her eyebrow.
“Yep. That’s exactly what happened.”
“Do you think I’m stupid? Your alpha obviously sent you, and you even brought a human along to disguise your intentions.”
Wait a second. So, everyone except me isn’t human? Good to know.
“He’s not my alpha. And she’s a friend from high school. She just moved here, I’ve been showing her around.” Johnnie watched me from the corner of his eye. I know that he hated explaining something so mundane, but the fact he was going through the effort meant something. I’m so confused.
The woman thinks for a moment before bringing out her phone and hastily making a call. I can hear the ringing.
“Reginald, long time. I want you to explain why one of your puppies was found in my yard.” The other person spoke. “Why, it’s Johnnie…What do you mean he’s not one of yours…But you know the rules…I mean sure, it could have been an accident, but…This is not a game, we have boundaries for a reason…See, I knew you would do this, you have since ’67…Well, maybe if you hadn’t left me in the jungles of Saigon!” She slams the phone on the table and I jump in my seat.
“Get them out of here.” The man by the chair starts to argue. She bares her long canines.
“Now.” We stand up to leave when Johnnie speaks.
“Can I get a shirt?”
“And get him a shirt.” Johnnie grabs my hand and we start to leave.
“Johnnie, might I suggest the next time your taco truck leads you through here, you find a ride.” She turns and smiles at me. “And Anika, I do hope you get a chance to visit during opening hours. Our steaks are to die for.”
—
30 minutes later, we are sitting on the curb near the food truck. Johnnie finally takes a bite of his taco. I think about all the things he’s told me.
“So, vampires and werewolves are real. We were just abducted by Vivica and her goons because she hates werewolves.”
“Right.”
“And she hates werewolves because her former friend Reginald, who’s a werewolf alpha, pranked her by shipping her and her coffin to Vietnam.”
“Correct again.”
“But Reginald’s not your alpha, he just helped you out after you got turned from an injury you got while on shift at the hospital.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re a fucking werewolf.”
“Yes, I’m a fucking werewolf,” he smiles and his eye flash gold, “Welcome to New York.”
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